Friday, 16 December 2011

View from Shore Road, Magnolia, Massachusetts: photo by John Phelan, May 2008

What is contentedness?Well, first of allyou have to ignore theDada Alarm Clock2nd you have to forget aboutthe word "ignore"& 3rd you have to likebeing a piece ofbreathing driftwood& 4th: you have toembrace fleetingnesswhile storing

To embrace fleetingness while storing elliptical present time of day in the Age of Huh is no mean trick for sure.

Ed and Miriam went to Bass Rocks for a weekend in October to celebrate their 50th (speaking of no mean trick).

Ed's sane and fruitful longevity as an artist (and human) must attest to good character as well as country living.

He continues to please the Muse, while gentle Miriam crosses the road to feed corn to a hungry herd of deer (who otherwise are busy dodging the brave white weekend hunters from Brooklyn), every day in the life.

The driftwood proposition, yes... those lines have been reverberating here in the dark these past two nights. Detachment, flotation, deep breathing, leaving the universe to do with us what it wilt. As of course it will do anyway, whether we accept it, or go out kicking & screaming.

"Managing" the "population" of other species, a concept illustrative of human arrogance and hubris.

The hunt turned the Garden into an imperial bloodsport arena. You can smell dying Empires from miles away. I learned this as a kid, sniffing the death and fear in the air on summer nights, west of the stockyards in a city built on a river of animal blood.